MASC. Paris is somewhat muddy; but then we have sedan chairs.

MAD. To be sure; a sedan chair is a wonderful protection against the
insults of mud and bad weather.

MASC. I am sure you receive many visits. What great wit belongs to your
company?

MAD. Alas! we are not yet known, but we are in the way of being so; for
a lady of our acquaintance has promised us to bring all the gentlemen
who have written for the Miscellanies of Select Poetry.

[Footnote: Moliere probably alludes to a Miscellany of Select Poetry,
published in 1653, by de Sercy, under the title of _Poesies choisies de
M. M. Corneille Benserade, de Scudery, Boisrobert, Sarrazin, Desmarets,
Baraud, Saint-Laurent, Colletet. Lamesnardiere, Montreuil, Viguier,
Chevreau, Malleville, Tristan, Testu, Maucroy, de Prade, Girard et de
L'Age_. A great number of such miscellanies appeared in France, and in
England also, about that time.]

CAT. And certain others, whom, we have been told, are likewise the
sovereign arbiters of all that is handsome.

MASC. I can manage this for you better than any one; they all visit me;
and I may say that I never rise without having half-a-dozen wits at my
levee.

MAD. Good Heavens! you will place us under the greatest obligation if
you will do us the kindness; for, in short, we must make the